Matt Walker - Channel Sales Best-Practices Across Cultures

In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Matt Walker, Head of Distribution for EMEA and LATAM at Everpure, to unpack what channel success looks like when you’ve worked every side of the ecosystem. Matt’s path into the role started in telemarketing, moved through the reseller and distributor world, and eventually into vendor leadership. That journey gives him a practical view of the channel that is hard to fake. He has lived the pressure of cold outreach, the complexity of partner motions, and the realities of building pipeline through indirect routes.

The conversation starts with Matt’s “five Ps” of channel success — pipeline, people, portfolio, processes, and programs — with pipeline at the center. Everything else only matters if it drives real opportunity. From there, he explains how distribution has evolved from transactional fulfillment to a true extension of sales. The best distributors now generate demand, support deals, and enable partners, which often means working with fewer, higher-impact partners rather than broad, shallow coverage.

We also explore the realities of leading across EMEA and LATAM, where channel models don’t translate one-to-one. Local factors like culture, taxation, and routes to market shape how roles between partners and distributors shift. The takeaway is simple: effective channel strategy reflects how each market actually operates.

Finally, Matt reinforces that success in the channel comes down to relationships and value selling. Strong channel performance comes from understanding customer outcomes and building the trust needed across partners and distributors to deliver against them.

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Transcript

Welcome And Guest Background

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Welcome back to Partnerships Unravel, the podcast where we dive deep into the mysteries and the secrets of partnerships and the channel. My name is Michel Toole. I'm head of marketing at Chanext, and I'll be your host for today. I'm excited to speak with Matt Walker, head of AMIA distribution at Pure Storage.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Matt, how are you? I'm really good. Thank you for having me on. It's super excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Likewise, and uh we already had a quick conversation about the guitars we have behind us. I'm sure we'll uh continue that after this recording is over. But before we go into music, could you give us a brief introduction about yourself, your background, what you do at Pure Storage?

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Of course, yeah, delighted to. So again, thank you for having me on. So, as you said, uh Matt Walker, um, I uh currently head up the um distribution for Amir and Latam for Pure Storage. I've uh been at Pure for almost seven years in July. Terrific company to work for, great work-life balance, great product, market leading product. Um, and yeah, so uh super excited to carry on my journey. Um I've done a number of roles in in Pure, but always been in the channel, um, always been either involved in distribution or or partners. So I originally came on board uh uh for Pure to do um a distribution account manager role in the UK and Ireland, first of all, uh, and then developed into looking after um sort of leading partners in in the UK and I. Uh and eventually an opportunity came up um for me to to go back into distribution, into my roots and uh and look after distribution on a on a larger scale for AMIA, and then they threw LATAM at me as well, sort of six months ago, which um I know you've got a sort of question on, um, and it's a very interesting topic. But before uh I joined Pure, sort of IT background, sort of 15 years, uh I actually started um in a telemarketing agency, which I uh ended up having sort of shares in. Um and it sort of gave me the the overall uh knowledge and uh information about what you have to sort of do and go through to be able to get sales leads and get ahead. Um and it all started with with telemarketing. Obviously, a lot has evolved since then in terms of uh social media like LinkedIn, advertising and and leads, um, platforms and marketing and webinar and events. Um but when I started out doing it, it was sort of yeah, Wolf of Wall Street style, 200 calls a day, you know, picking up the phone, um, yeah, living living by the uh living by the phone. Um difficult, um, but sort of that's where I started. Uh I then actually went to go and work for one of our clients um to go into the reseller world, um, which was which was eye-opening and great. So I not only had to do the telemarketing, but I had to then attend the meetings that I set and tried to sell our portfolio range. Um and then I moved to another reseller because that reseller, even though it was good and I was successful, it was sort of jack of all trades, master of none, and I wanted to get a little bit more specific in terms of what I was doing. So I moved to a uh a bigger uh reseller in the UK that's uh focused on cyber security and did that for a few years, enjoyed that, but then I was sort of headhunted and uh and worked for then a distributor, um, again doing specifically cyber security. And while I was doing uh that, I think I spent three and a half, four years there. While I was doing that, I uh I then wanted to dip my toe into sort of vendor land and I started interviewing around uh and uh the place that gave me a home and took a chance on me with no vendor experience was uh was Pure Storage, who you know they were still young, still immature in in the Europe market. But yeah, they gave me a home and I sort of settled in there and uh and and sort of uh evolved from there. So I've sort of seen the whole cycle, if you like telemarketing, reseller, distribution, and and vendor. So um hopefully that gives you a little bit of an insight into uh into me and and my journey so far.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Absolutely. It just by chance, a couple of people I've been talking to have had started out in telemarketing or inside sales or something like that. And it's so fascinating because the one tip I'd give everyone, regardless of where they are in their career, what kind of role they have, join your inside sales team to do some cold calls. You will learn so much about rejection.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Yeah, you think you know rejection first, yeah. You you know it when you pick up a telephone.

The Five Ps That Drive Pipeline

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Yeah, it's gonna make you cry, but it'll also make you a lot stronger. And I also think building on like, hey, understanding how incremental success kind of operates in those those those environments is super, super valuable. So um you've seen every side of the channel then, right? You start out in in the contact center space, you moved into reseller, distributor, now you're with a vendor. What would you say are your like biggest lessons you've learned throughout this?

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Yes, a great question. Um, and there are several, um, you know, and some of them you have to learn the hard way. Um, but for me, one of the main lessons I think that I've learned through experience but also through other people, um, maybe different management styles or or seeing how people have done things, but for me it sort of goes back to um to five Ps. And no matter where which element you are working on, whether it's telemarketing all the way through to vendor, I think these five Ps sort of resonate. And at the end of the day, if you're in a sales role, whether that be direct, whether that be channel, it always comes back to the first P, which is pipeline. Your main objective is to generate pipeline, whether that's for yourself and your number, collectively for a team number, for the company. So the first thing that you you have to be able to demonstrate is pipeline. But you know, there's several the other four Ps that I'll talk about is is how these sort of resonate to to generate that pipeline, and you know, you have got to have good people around you. You know, you've got to be a good people and you've got to have good people around you. And when I say good people, knowledgeable people about your portfolio, your products, the market, um, you've got to have, you know, or or about the um the the industry, um whether it be manufacturing, financial services. So you've got to have and surround yourself with good people. They are you know in uh instrumental to whatever your your you're gonna do to help build that pipeline and and eventually close that pipeline to to win. You've then got to have um a good portfolio, so a good product, good portfolio, which thankfully Pure Storage does, you know, market leading um furthest right in the the magic quadrant, um, got a magic quadrant, um, you know, innovating uh the technology and and and taking it beyond what everybody thought was impossible to make it possible and uh and and not just stop there, you know, keep innovating and keep going with research and development. You know, so much of our profits go back into research and development to keep making that product even better to suit customers' evolving needs all the time. Um so yeah, so so pipeline people, then products and portfolio, you then have to have good processes. You have to have good processes to make things simple. You know, it's alright having good technology, but if it isn't simple, if the process and you know, people advocating it or buying it or trying to sell it, if those processes aren't in place, it's gonna be very, very difficult. And you know, we know what salespeople like. We want ease, we want simplicity, we want to lean on that open door to push it open. So um to definitely sort of the the processes uh are uh are important there. And then the final one is is programs, you know. Uh the programs are important, whether it is at uh an individual level or whether it is at an entity level. And we're talking about you know, could be discounts, it could be uh incentives, you know, rewarding individual people, rewarding the entity businesses. Um, because at the end of the day, you know, the product might be great, but uh if people want to sell it and earn money on it, then you know you've got to have those good programs. So I think the lessons that I've learned that I would take to any role and I'd advise anybody is if you live and die by those five P's, you're gonna be there or thereabouts and you'll you'll make a success. But making sure the pipeline is is forefront of your uh uh your your agenda.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Yeah. No, I I really love that approach, and I think people should almost be more active in applying these types of models, very simply just always looking in the back of your head and saying, Am I hitting those five Ps in every process I do? And I really like that you started with pipeline, uh, because some people I've heard in the past that when I approach it that way, that people say, Okay, but where's the like the human aspect of things? And I'm like, Yeah, no, no, no, that's most of the rest of it. But the pipeline part is especially like I've had that with my my teams, where I said, look, at the end of the day, we're working at a for-profit company and we're getting salaries, so we need to do something. So we got goals that we commit to, we've got pipeline that we commit to, but beyond that, how we do it, that's with empathy and passion and focus, and I think that's a really cool way to structure your conversations.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Um, to be honest, uh I thought you were just gonna say the five Ps are partnerships, partnerships, partnerships, partnerships, and partnerships, but Yeah, and you know, being in the channel, you know, that that's what you would expect to hear, you know, the the partnerships, and it is a huge part of it. You know, if you want to throw an R into there, you know, a big part of my job, and I think you have to be as a character, is relationships. You know, if you can't form those relationships, whether that be with the end user, whether that be with your partner, with your distributor, you need to be able to form those relationships from whether it's someone doing the cleaning, you know, all the way up to a a C level sweet person that is, you know, everyone is important, you know, from top to bottom or bottom to top. If you you can't develop those relationships, you are going to struggle because those five Ps sort of revolve around having that relationship and and being able to not sell on price, that is is is so important that you know the first thing that that Pure did for me is they always send you on these onboarding camps. You know, when you're in Europe, you have to go over to America and um and sort of sit through these uh these onboarding um and and I I I did I didn't know what to expect. You know, I expected to learn all about the products and portfolio and pricing, and it was none of that. It was none of that. What they um sort of zoned in on was forget everything, you know, forget sort of where you are, what you're selling. What you've got to try and denonstrate to whoever you're talking to, again, whether it's distributor, partner, end user, you have got to try and demonstrate that you are understanding their challenges and you are trying to not just fix a short-term problem, but uh look at what they're trying to get as an outcome. And that is business value selling. If you can demonstrate the outcomes that your products, services, hardware, software, whatever it is, whether it's IT or not, if you can demonstrate to a prospect that you will help them achieve the outputs that they're trying to get to, you'll go a long way.

Turning Distributors Into Sales Extensions

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Yeah. No, I I fully agree. And it's such a nuanced discussion, right? If you look at challenge-based selling and and solution seals, where it's not just about the the methodology, right? It's about as a human actually caring about supporting your customer in achieving those outcomes. And there again, you know, that relationship aspect that you mentioned comes up. And I think that is a nice transition into another question I had. Uh, when we were doing the prep, you said that your distributor should basically act as a true extension of your sales arm. Um, what I'm wondering is how do you then build that relationship and how do you enable them to be that extension as opposed to just like uh a box pusher, so to speak?

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Absolutely, it's a great question. And I think we are currently in that transition mode right now. You know, when when pure storage sort of came to market in in Europe sort of 14, 15 years ago, the case was exactly what you just said there. Is you know, the strategy was well, we don't have the people, we don't have the officers in all of these countries, but we need to get our kit there. We don't sort of care how we do it, we just need to service this end user that we've sold to. And that was sort of the strategy of distribution. We just went out and we signed loads of distributors so you know they could handle things like the credit line, the risk, the partner, the logistics, and all we saw distribution really was was transactional fulfillment to get our product out there, and that's what it was for a very, very long time. And so what we ended up with was we ended up with a lot of distributors. So you're trying to manage that with local people that have also maybe got partners to look after as well as distributors, um, you know, it either means that we have to employ more people or we have to change our strategy. And we did a little bit of both, obviously, we needed to employ people, you know, and and we've grown so much, you know, in in in different countries. And um, but we also had to sort of change the strategy of less is more. So we were focusing on those distributors that started adding value, not just being transactional fulfillment, you know. And when I say adding value, they they may have done things like lead generation back to our sellers. You know, it may have just been something simple as being able to use their offices for demoing and and and you know, maybe warehousing. Um, it may have been uh the the people that they employed and and then you know going out and doing elements of the job that we didn't either you know have focus on or have time to do and and and sort of elevate us in in that way. So yeah, it's it's been very sort of um sort of the the strategy has sort of changed and is changing recently and it will continue to evolve because you know we need more from our distributors now, and it just like you said that in our in our pre-word that we need those distributors to be a true extension of our sales arm. And that doesn't isn't just distribution, that's that's partners. You know, we we have this phrase you know, champion. You know, we we want to get individuals that are champions that are selling pure storage because they they get it, they understand the um the simplicity, the market leading technology, how it can develop and and and and and uh create opportunity and give outputs to what their their customers' challenges are facing. So yeah, it's um it's uh it's different it can be difficult at times because obviously if you're reducing the number of distributors down, you know, you are are effectively you know terminating some distributors, but in the end, we have to focus on becoming relevant to those distributors, getting the profitability right within those distributors so that they can then reinvest into Pure on things like resource, dedicated resource, or uh marketing activities, uh enablement activities. And again, that all drives that magical P of pipeline. Um and we are you know we're getting to that point more and more now with Pure.

AMIA Versus LATAM Channel Realities

SPEAKER_01 16:30

I totally understand that. It's something that I keep hearing, and it's really about long-term, right? It's no longer transactional, it's the understanding that if you build these uh not just the relationships, but um tailored programs for these distributors and partners, you get a longer-term relationship and then it creates this mutual lift. And I actually love the example you gave about simply being able to use their offices for demos or getting better referrals. It's like it turns it into a cyclical model as opposed to just your business saying, here's our stuff, sell it now, right? You mentioned you're um uh responsible for AMIA and and Latin America. Early on in my career, I went to Singapore, I had some amazing opportunities, I got some really high-level contacts there, and I was like, okay, this is a done deal. I'm Dutch, right? We know how this works. Hey, this is your problem, this is the value, sign here. That's basically it. And when I got there, I noticed that it doesn't really matter who you're sitting in front of, that's not how it works at all. So I spent, I think, a year and a half, maybe two years, only building rapport with some lover lower level stakeholders, then going up and up and up and up, and only at the moment where I had this real connection, as in uh the guy I was talking to knew my mom's name, that was the moment when I could start having business conversations. I learned a very, very complicated lesson about how culture is uh it flows through everything, basically. So I can imagine if you look at AMIA and Latin, those two regions work uh quite differently. So, what are the biggest differences you see between them and how does that shape your distribution play?

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah, great question. And actually, uh just like yourself, I've learned so much in from looking after UK and I and then going to EMIA and then eventually sort of uh a LATAN, that the first thing that I learned very, very quickly is just because it worked there doesn't mean it's gonna work there. And um, you know, whether you're talking language barriers, whether you're talking, you know, personal relationships, whether you're talking taxations and different discounts in in how countries work, all of these elements you have to you have to account for. And I think with a MIA, you know, um, luckily for me, um most places speak English, um, which is good. Um, you know, so the language barrier wasn't too much of an issue, um, but you definitely learn how different cultures operate and how you know one can be vastly different to the other. And for us, Amia and Latam are completely different. You know, the things that I've learned um, you know, in a short term, and I'm not gonna claim I'm an expert at Latam because I'm I'm far from, um, but you know, things like the the taxations that happen there and how you know manufacturing costs and being tacked on on manufacturing, if you don't manufacture in Brazil or Mexico as an example, and you're importing, exporting, there's gonna be cost to that. You then that obviously affects your your pricing and your discounting. You know, then it it's a case of you know, do you go one tier or two tier? Do you go directly with a distributor andor partner, or do you go through both? If you go through both, you know, are you sort of pricing yourself out of the market? Because, you know, the one thing pure uh isn't is you know we're probably not going to be servicing the the small to medium size uh sector, you know, we're an enterprise vendor, um, and that comes, you know, quality comes with a with a cost, and again, that's why selling on value is is so important. So there are definitely different aspects to to each uh each area, um, and it's uh you know, it makes the job interesting. It makes the job really interesting because it doesn't get boring, you're always challenged every day. And I think that you know, one thing I will say within Pure is we're 100% channel, we've always been 100% channel, whether that is you know two-tier or one-tier, we've never gone direct to the end user. And um that helps because you keep that ecosystem in place, and we know that they are the drivers for us to go to market. And again, if I look back 13, 14, 15 years ago when we came to sort of the European market, you know, we had to go 100% because we didn't have those inroads to these customers. The partners or the distributors had the inroads into the customers to get us there, otherwise it would be you know pure who. I'd never heard of you, don't don't know what that is. If they've got a trusted advisor that they always buy through and they you know always have a relationship with, we knew that was how we were going to be able to get our product to market. So yeah, it's uh it is very interesting and and definitely different challenges and and and different cultures play uh play a part there. Um absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

I can see that, but I think it does help indeed if you have that 100% channel first go-to-market model already set up, then it's not about reinventing the wheel, it's basically about tailoring it to different geographies, different locations. Um, and I think that does uh create something interesting that I always tell my team members and people around me to do, and I'm sure they find me annoying already, which is sometimes you should take a look at the assumptions that you hold dear, think you're just You don't even think about anymore and see if they're still valid, see if they're still accurate. So if you got a go-to-market model that you always use, take a moment, step back, and say, what doesn't work about this? And it'll really give you new insights, especially when you're forced to when you're dealing with new geographies, new cultures, etc. Uh, it really also helps you kind of look at the overall model and see where that can improve in general. So I think that's a great way of learning and growing.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

I think I'll add to that as well by saying um with all the different markets and countries or regions, the other thing that I found is that sometimes the roles and responsibilities of partners and distributors can actually flip. So, you know, we have regions where, you know, probably the more mature market where the partner is the one that's got the relationships that does a lot of the work, a lot of the intro, bringing the account executives in, and they use distribution as the engine, you know, and a lot of the time it might be fulfillment, but it's a it's a value-added part. You know, the partner don't want to take on that responsibility of you know ensuring the credit line and the risks and getting the kit to uh to that site. But we've seen in emerging regions, um, you know, we now call it Mecca, so Middle East, Turkey, sort of Central, Eastern Europe, um, Turkey and Africa, um, where the distributor actually flips and they're the one that does the majority of the work. They you know, they do the lead generation, they find the opportunity, they work it with the end user, and then they pass it off as a quote to the partner to transact it. So we do often see that there are different elements of working in different cultures, you know, from one to the other. So again, makes the job very, very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

I can imagine. So we talked a little bit about the 100% uh channel first model, the benefits that that has, but what I'm curious about is what challenges does a model like this bring that might surprise people listening?

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Yeah, that's a really good question. And um uh I don't want to offend anybody with my answer, but I I suppose the the the challenge that you can you can sometimes have is um you know if you are a uh used to a direct sale and you are used to you know doing everything yourself in as a as an account executive or a new business salesperson, if you are, you know, normally the one that does the telemarketing, finds your own leads, gets that meeting, generates that relationship with the end user, understands uh his challenges, brings your technical person in, you know, that that knows the product inside out to help with closing of that sale, you then do the commercials and the quoting uh and and maybe the the pre and the post sales and bring all that element in from you know from the start to the finish. You is if that's your norm, and then you you come into a business where it's a hundred percent channel, sometimes there are challenges there because you may not understand what the channel is or what the channel can bring or what it does because you're used to doing it all yourself. But I suppose it's a good thing, it's a positive thing when they those sort of direct sellers understand that, then a lot of the job can be can be you know not done for them, but assisted with you know them in terms of you know, they could go to a partner straight away and see who is is transacting with that account currently, build a relationship with that you know, channel um partner AE or the distribution AE, you know, try and get an introduction into that end user account um instead of doing months of cold calling and and research, um, you know, and and and sort of they can do the sizing and the quoting and use their technical people. Um so a lot of it can be you know assisted or you know generated for you, as well as you know, you as a seller going out and doing your own stuff. It's sort of a double pronged attack, if you like. You know, you can still do all that stuff, but you've got this stuff going on in in the background as well. So even though it can be a challenge for people that maybe don't understand the channel, it very, very quickly turns into a positive to those people that understand it and can can adopt it because it's another string to their boat.

Next Guest Pick And Closing

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Yeah, I can see that. I think it's it's a little bit about having an open mind when you step into a role like this, right? It's really leaving some of your expectations and assumptions at the door and then building on what you know, but having the ability to spread that out much more broadly through your channel network. Honestly, it kind of reminds me of moving from a corporate to a startup. Uh, you've got a lot of expectations around that. You're like, oh, I I want that freedom. Oh, I'm I'm gonna be able to talk directly with everyone and I can make decisions, and that all sounds very cool until you then start at a startup and you say, Okay, so who's my resource for X, Y, and Z? And they say, you. You, you are that expert. So understanding the massive benefits those shifts bring, like moving from direct to channel or moving from enterprise to startup, or even startup to enterprise, understanding those, but also expect expecting that things are going to be very different than you're used to, I think is great advice for everybody moving into roles like this and trying to understand the channel better. Absolutely. Yeah. We always ask our guests to invite the next guest on the podcast. So who do you think we should have next, Matt?

SPEAKER_00 27:33

Um, yeah, great question. There's a there's a number of people that I I could nominate and a number of people that I've I've worked either with or for or or managed. Um so there are a lot of people, a lot of good people out there, and obviously brings me back to my point that you know aligning yourself with good people, you know, that one are the Ps in in those five P's. Um but um you know, one of the the people currently in Impure that um runs our entire Admiya Latam uh channel um is Mr. Jeff Greenlaw. And and he would be a uh a great advocate of um of doing you know something like this and sort of talking about his experiences and um uh uh of the channel, but also in in sales as well, he's he's been a sales leader um you know in the past as well. So I would definitely recommend Jeff. Um and uh you know he will probably talk to me and say, You've stolen by Thunder with all of the sort of four or five P's, because um you know, as I say, you you learn from good people, you learn from um the people that have been there and done it. So he he may talk a lot about of this the same things, but at the end of the day, I think you you've already said it um in this podcast is don't reinvent the wheel. If something's working, align with it, do it. And and you know, whether you know you you call it the four Ps or whether you call it what whatever it is, they all come back centrally to those sort of key pillars, if you like. Um and so yeah, so my recommendation would be to reach out to to Jeff.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Fantastic. I think that's uh perfect advice to close on. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and uh taking the time to speak to me and the audience. And uh you, dear listeners, thanks for tuning in and see you in the next episode. Thanks, Matt. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Thank you.